Similarities between Bandy & Soccer provide opportunities for Bettors

Similarities between Bandy & Soccer provide opportunities for Bettors

By Michael Gales Oct 30, 2013

Tweet

You asked, Pinnacle Sports listened. After a number of requests Pinnacle are now re-offering odds on the Swedish Elitserien bandy league. This article looks at how you can bet on Bandy, the Swedish Elitserien and discusses the similarities between soccer and Bandy.

Bandy: a love child of soccer?

Bandy is often described as a cross between soccer and hockey. Popular amongst Scandinavian countries, the sports roots are surprisingly firmly set within England’s history – Queen Victoria’s husband Prince Albert couldn’t resist playing goalkeeper in a famous exhibition match in 1853 at Windsor Castle.

At first glance bandy may be mistaken for ice hockey – it’s played on ice with sticks, but that is where the similarities end.  The game is more comparable with soccer; Played on a rink the size of a soccer pitch with 11 players per team, two 45-minute halves, the same offside rule and unlike hockey there is no puck, bandy players use a small plastic orange ball.

Like soccer, players pass, dribble and shoot, with play only stopping when the ball goes out for a goal throw, corner stroke, penalty stroke, stroke in or by the referee. Discipline is maintained by the red and blue card system – Red means you can no longer play for the remainder of the game, while Blue is a 10-minute penalty (three Blues in the same game result in a red).

With such noticeable similarities between the two sports, it gives the players with knowledge of either soccer or bandy to transfer their betting Despite various countries hosting Bandy Leagues, the Swedish Elitserien is probably the most established league in the world. Since it’s inauguration for the 2007-2008 season the Elitserien has been seen as the pinnacle of domestic bandy.

The Elitserien consists of 14 teams and begins with the regular season in late October whereby each team play 26 games. The first eight teams then qualify for the quarter-finals, and there is a knockout format until the two remaining teams compete in the season finale at the Friends arena.

The two teams finishing at the bottom play a relegation round robin tournament against the top two teams from the Allsvenskan – the second division -, with the top two teams playing in the Elitserien the following season.

How to bet on Bandy at Pinnacle Sports

There are a number of ways to bet on bandy with Pinnacle Sports. Bettors have the opportunity to mix up their bets with a variety of different betting formats such as:

12 Bandy Betting:

12 markets are the most popular market and the simplest way for a player to understand the cost of a bet. 12 bandy bettors are ultimately betting on who will win the match.

Bandy Handicap Betting:

When the perceived bias in ability between two teams is different, bookmakers offer a goal handicap to level the playing field. These goals are then added to the game’s final score, and the winner is the team that wins with these additions.

Bandy Totals Betting:

Bandy total frames betting allows the punter to bet whether the total number of goals by both teams will be over or under the value set by Pinnacle Sports.

Click here for the latest Elitserien bandy odds.

If you have feedback, comments or questions regarding this article, please email the author or send us a tweet on Twitter.